Download MP3    Who knew you could compare a horse race to a failed romance?  Well, apparently Don Rollins did when he wrote this song for George Jones in 1964.  There are five horses in this race: “Pride”, “Heartaches”, “My Tears”, “My Heart”, and “True Love”.  But, alas, “Heartaches” wins and “the winner loses all”.  What a nifty analogy.

Never was a fan of George Jones.  He was the only singer I’ve heard that could sing with his mouth shut – and it sounded like it.  This piece was also recorded by such notables as Waylon Jennings,  Dave Edmunds, The Grateful Dead, and Alvin and the Chipmunks.  By far the best version was by the band Sawyer Brown.  They put a slight musical edge to it that made the song a little “gritty”, instead of the kinda “soft soap” recordings everyone else put out.  This particular arrangement gives the Sawyer Brown rendition a little extra layer of that “grit” with the constant muted guitar on track 6.  I think it will work well for modern audiences.

What’s especially nice about this sequence is that it has two guitar and piano solos… gives your dancers more time on the floor.  If you’re singing solo without a band, then obviously you’ll use all the backup tracks. But if you play guitar (or piano) in your act, you can do those solos yourself by simply muting the appropriate track.  Lots of room for flexibility here.  Trot this one out (no pun intended) and pretend it’s a brand new song.